For the first time in a long while, Alabama Football will enter the 2024 season without a lofty ranking. The Crimson Tide is ranked No. 5 in the preseason Coaches Poll. Some Alabama fans may be disappointed but the truism ‘it is not where you start but how well you finish’ is undeniable.

Not only is the Crimson Tide ranked below four other teams it is well behind No. 4. Georgia tops the poll with 46 first-place votes and 1,364 points. Ohio State is at No. 2 with seven first-place votes and 1,302 points. Oregon got no first-place votes but is at No. 3, with 1,228 points. The Texas Longhorns got one first-place vote and finished No. 4 with 1,223 points. The Crimson Tide is ranked at No. 5, with 1,077 points.

Trailing Alabama at No. 6 is Ole Miss, with 1,019 points, followed by Notre Dame (No. 7 and 969 points); Michigan (No. 8 and 944 points); Penn State (No. 9 and 889 points) and Florida State (No. 10 and 867 points).

SEC football teams occupy five of the next 10 spots: Missouri (No. 11); LSU (No. 12); Tennessee (No. 15); Oklahoma (No. 16) and Texas A&M (No. 20). Nine of the Top 25’s top 20 teams coming from the SEC is an accurate representation of where the power resides in college football. The Big Ten lags behind the SEC, with five teams, including two, USC and Iowa ranked below the SEC’s lowest-ranked team.

The Crimson Tide has not been ranked so low in the preseason since 2009. There might be some motivational value to the players from not being ranked as one of college football’s best. If so, it just adds to the already deep reservoir of Crimson Tide motivation to prove ‘naysayers’ wrong.